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Inbreeding depression in one of the last DFTD-free wild populations of Tasmanian devils

, , , , ,
1 School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2 Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
3 Toledo Zoo, Toledo, Ohio, United States of America
4 San Diego Zoo Global, San Diego, California, United States of America
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.27985v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Biodiversity, Conservation Biology, Genetics, Population Biology
Keywords
litter size, internal relatedness, reproductive success
Copyright
© 2019 Gooley et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Gooley RM, Hogg CJ, Fox S, Pemberton D, Belov K, Grueber CE. 2019. Inbreeding depression in one of the last DFTD-free wild populations of Tasmanian devils. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27985v1

Abstract

Background. Vulnerable species experiencing inbreeding depression are prone to localised extinctions because of their reduced fitness. For Tasmanian devils, the rapid spread of devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) has led to population declines and fragmentation across the species’ range. Here we show that one of the few remaining DFTD-free populations of Tasmanian devils is experiencing inbreeding depression. Moreover, this population has experienced a significant reduction in reproductive success over recent years.

Methods. We used 32 microsatellite loci to examine changes in genetic diversity and inbreeding in the wild population at Woolnorth, alongside field data on breeding success from females to test for inbreeding depression.

Results. We found that maternal internal relatedness has a negative impact on litter sizes. The results of this study imply that this population has entered an extinction vortex and that to protect the population, genetic rescue may be required. This study provides conservation managers with useful information for managing wild devils and provides support for the “Wild Devil Recovery Program” which is currently augmenting small, isolated populations.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.

Supplemental Information

Genotypes and individual data associated with analysis in the paper

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.27985v1/supp-1

Additional Information

Competing Interests

Samantha Fox and David Pemberton are employed by Save the Tasmanian Devil Program. Catherine E. Grueber was also affiliated with San Diego Zoo Global at the time this work was conducted. Samantha Fox is an Adjunct Biologist to Toledo Zoo.

Author Contributions

Rebecca M Gooley analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft, conducted the lab work.

Carolyn J Hogg conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.

Samantha Fox conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.

David Pemberton conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.

Katherine Belov conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.

Catherine E Grueber conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.

Animal Ethics

The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):

Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.

Field Study Permissions

The following information was supplied relating to field study approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):

Save the Tasmanian Devil Program.

Data Deposition

The following information was supplied regarding data availability:

Raw data are uploaded in a single CSV format supplementary file. Genotypes for all animals are included, as well as data for the variables used in linear modelling.

Funding

This research was supported by funding from the Australian Research Council (grant number LP140100508), the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia and San Diego Zoo Global. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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